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If you had any doubts that Cyborg isn't still one of the most violent if not THE most violent female fighter of all time, go watch the finish of the Budd fight. Oh my God it was like watching the finish to Chuck v. Tito 1. WOW. Makes you wonder how a Nunes rematch would have gone.

I'm not one of those goons who will try to pretend like UFC=end all be all. Budd hadn't lost a fight since fighting Ronda Rousey years ago, and her only losses including Cyborg are to Ronda and Nunes. So basically the 3 greatest female fighters ever. 11 fight winning streak. Perfect opponent for Cyborg to maul. Jesus Christ, it was so vicious.

Rafael Lovato Jr has vacated the MW strap due to a brain condition and now Gegard (former champ) and Douglas Lima (current WW champ) will fight for the vacant MW title May 9th underneath the Bader-Nemkov LHW title fight.

I'm not sure what Bellator is trying to accomplish here. Lima hasn't fought at MW in 10 years and never fought for Bellator at that weight class. The problem here is that if he wins, he's already a champ at WW. So if he wins, that'd be 3 of their fighters holding 6 titles and shit Bader himself hasn't defended the LHW title in forever. (Patricio Freire holds the FW and LW titles FYI)

Agreed, if they popped a rating or put champion vs. champion fights on PPV you could understand it, but limiting the amount of championship fights hurts the surrounding cards, and lack of consistency is a huge problem for Bellator. They go months without a top fight. Mousasi vs. Salter likely does a similar number as the co-main here, whereas Lima defending the welterweight title against Lorenz Larkin would do a bigger number than, say, a Cheick Kongo vs. Sergei Kharitonov fight that will main event the next card in absence of a title fight.

On the flip side, it is a great fight, and a great one-two punch, so there is that. With these fights and the featherweight grand prix, as well as Horiguchi's injury, there's a lot of top contenders that can't challenge for the world title until the end of the year at least, considering Bader will want to put mass back on for heavyweight and Lima will need more time to cut back to 170.

Agreed, if they popped a rating or put champion vs. champion fights on PPV you could understand it, but limiting the amount of championship fights hurts the surrounding cards, and lack of consistency is a huge problem for Bellator. They go months without a top fight. Mousasi vs. Salter likely does a similar number as the co-main here, whereas Lima defending the welterweight title against Lorenz Larkin would do a bigger number than, say, a Cheick Kongo vs. Sergei Kharitonov fight that will main event the next card in absence of a title fight.

On the flip side, it is a great fight, and a great one-two punch, so there is that. With these fights and the featherweight grand prix, as well as Horiguchi's injury, there's a lot of top contenders that can't challenge for the world title until the end of the year at least, considering Bader will want to put mass back on for heavyweight and Lima will need more time to cut back to 170.

That's the crazy part, I love the fight. I just don't like when this new phenomena of "double champs" starts clogging up divisions. Shit, Bellator has a knack for letting their champions go 2-3+ years without defending the title. Like that Russian fighter who was HW champ for like 3 years and defended it maybe once, while still being active in other promotions......Very strange.

It's super rare when it's actually warrented too, going back through the UFC's history of it - I'd say only Miocic vs. Cormier honestly. Money-wise obviously they chase that 1 million PPV buys, but in terms of competition generally divisions get logjammed. They lucked into Max and Khabib looking so dominant once they eventually became undisputed champion after McGregor was stripped, otherwise both would've had "not the real champ" stigma.

Bellator does a lot of things I like and a lot of things I don't. I like signing prospects and feeding them cans on prelims. I prefer that to an 8-4 guy fighting a 7-2 guy, neither with power or a high number of skill, grafting to a decision against each other. What they've done with AJ McKee for example, is far better than the UFC bringing in a decent featherweight, matching him with other decent featherweights, and having him put on 5 decent unspectacular fights on prelims where he goes 4-1 or worse. There doesn't seem to be an end game for a lot of fighters, they're just bodies to fill cards. If one of the fighters involved doesn't have at least top 10 potential, unless they're putting on bangers, what's the point? I like tournaments, as it gives a clear hierarchy to divisions and creates storylines without having some uncharismatic cunt pretend to be Conor McGregor. I like matching legends with legends. I don't like inconsistency of cards or the pacing of their shows. They run to late in the day. And they're not the best promotors of all time, so quality fights can fly under the radar without having the correct spin put on it. It's alright though, and fucking insane that it's lasted longer now than PRIDE did as a whole.

It's super rare when it's actually warrented too, going back through the UFC's history of it - I'd say only Miocic vs. Cormier honestly. Money-wise obviously they chase that 1 million PPV buys, but in terms of competition generally divisions get logjammed. They lucked into Max and Khabib looking so dominant once they eventually became undisputed champion after McGregor was stripped, otherwise both would've had "not the real champ" stigma.

Bellator does a lot of things I like and a lot of things I don't. I like signing prospects and feeding them cans on prelims. I prefer that to an 8-4 guy fighting a 7-2 guy, neither with power or a high number of skill, grafting to a decision against each other. What they've done with AJ McKee for example, is far better than the UFC bringing in a decent featherweight, matching him with other decent featherweights, and having him put on 5 decent unspectacular fights on prelims where he goes 4-1 or worse. There doesn't seem to be an end game for a lot of fighters, they're just bodies to fill cards. If one of the fighters involved doesn't have at least top 10 potential, unless they're putting on bangers, what's the point? I like tournaments, as it gives a clear hierarchy to divisions and creates storylines without having some uncharismatic cunt pretend to be Conor McGregor. I like matching legends with legends. I don't like inconsistency of cards or the pacing of their shows. They run to late in the day. And they're not the best promotors of all time, so quality fights can fly under the radar without having the correct spin put on it. It's alright though, and fucking insane that it's lasted longer now than PRIDE did as a whole.

Yeah I remember Bellator debuting and on the boards there were like 2 people who had hope, one being our boy DUBYA. He knew the growth from MTV2 was going to happen and here we are 10+ years later and they're still going and growing. UFC kind of helped them out by fucking fighters on sponsorships and now Bellator are getting top 5 fighters as opposed to Marcus Davis and Joe Riggs.

Yeah, they've mainly been hamstrung by their top, top fighters not being particularly charismatic or accessible to middle America. Your Pitbull's, Bader's and Lima's are super fighters, but are very no nonsense, and so are the immediate contenders. Dominance, charisma and rivalries make stars, and they're generally lacking in the latter two categories. I think some of that is luck, though. The UFC, for example, really hit gold in that 2006/07 period where the Spike deal started to flourish. Chuck had that weird fighter charisma that can't really be explained, he was really good, and he had the huge rivalry with Ortiz, who himself was on a run, charismatic, and had the rivalry with Shamrock that hit to the public. GSP was a great fighter, charismatic if not a great talker, and had the rivalries with Penn, Hughes and then Serra. Anderson was great but didn't click until he came against the guy who could talk in Sonnen. Khabib's star was made by the Conor rivalry. Bellator just need one of these great, dominant champions to click as rivals against a guy that will bring their personality out of them and they should be away. McKee vs. Pitbull, should that be the final, might be that fight to be honest.